A Deadly Secret
by DarkandtwistyGirl
Summary: AU to Home Court. Nancy had been keeping a secret from her colleagues, and when she and Glenn are in the wreck that secret may cost more than one life. *Complete*
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Trauma, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.**_

**_Enjoy and please review!_**

* * *

**Chapter One**

Nancy Carnahan was a qualified doctor and had been a paramedic for nearly eight years, she saved lives every day, but as she lay in the overturned ambulance Nancy felt all too mortal.

Her partner, Glenn Morrison was trapped beside her. Nancy could hear him trying to check on her, trying to get a response, but the pain was overwhelming, she felt like she couldn't breathe.

It was all that Nancy could do to put it out on the radio that they'd been involved in a collision.

* * *

As Cameron Boone and Tyler Briggs, Nancy and Glenn's fellow medics arrived first on scene, Tyler particularly was overwhelmed by the sheer devastation that he saw; Boone was too, but he kept his focus on doing the job.

By the time that Tyler reached Nancy and Glenn they were in bad shape.

"Ty," Glenn called out as he could see that help was there; they were going to be fine.

"I'm gonna get you guys out of here, okay," Tyler quickly tried to reassure them.

"She's pretty messed up, man. Like twelve on the GCS."

Tyler took on the information; he thought, they both thought that a head injury was Nancy's greatest concern. "Hey Nance, Nancy. Talk to me, give me symptoms baby. Nancy talk to me," That was the last thing that Tyler had a chance to say before his partner pulled him away to triage others injured in the carnage.

* * *

A brief word of apology, and Tyler was gone. The pain was worsening by the second, it brought Nancy closer to awareness of her situation.

Nancy knew that she had in all likelihood sustained a serious blow to her abdomen, she was probably bleeding internally, but that didn't scare her nearly as much as the sudden realization that she hadn't felt the baby move since the accident.

Nancy was certain at that moment that she was miscarrying; she wanted to cry and scream at the pain, at what had happened to her, but Glenn had been driving, she could hear the guilt in every panicked word he said.

That was when Nancy told herself that there was nothing that could be done to save her baby, it was too early; she wouldn't worsen the burden of guilt that her rookie partner was already feeling, it wouldn't change anything, or at least that's what Nancy told herself.

* * *

It was over forty-five minutes before it came time to extricate Nancy and Glenn from the wrecked ambulance. Glenn was alright, but Nancy was rapidly losing her battle for consciousness.

By then an EMT was with Nancy, monitoring her and administering oxygen.

The rescue crew were trying to put a brace around Glenn's neck before they moved him to reach Nancy, but given the position he was in it was impossible.

"Look, my neck's fine, it's just my arm," Glenn insisted.

"It's not going to happen," One of their rescuers agreed, taking away the collar.

Glenn must have heard Nancy's weak efforts to resist the EMT's aid. "Nance, let them treat you."

"I'm still here, aren't I?" Nancy replying, trying to seem alright for her partner's sake.

"Funny," Glenn commented, only for his voice to be mostly unheard as Nancy cried out involuntarily, pain ripping through her body. "What? What?!" Glenn said, fearing for his partner.

"I've probably just broken some ribs," Nancy replied, again feeling herself slipping.

* * *

Just moments after Glenn was lifted out onto a backboard, Nancy again cried out, she couldn't control it anymore.

That was when Reuben "Rabbit" Palchuck, a flight medic, and Nancy's former partner arrived at a run. He pushed another medic out of his way to crawl into where Nancy lay in the wreckage. "I'm here, it's okay," Rabbit tried to reassure Nancy, who broke into tears at the sight of him, the father of her unborn child.

"I'm sorry," Nancy murmured, "I'm sorry I lost our baby."

Rabbit couldn't have been more shocked, that one night that they were together, it was over five months ago. Still he tried to keep calm, Nancy was his closest friend, and she needed him now. "It's okay, it's okay."

"Oh god."

Rabbit quickly got the EMT to list of the latest round of vital signs that she'd taken; it only confirmed what Rabbit already knew, he needed to get Nancy to the hospital, fast.

Nancy clung on to Reuben's flight suit desperately. "What the hell took you so long?"

Somehow Reuben couldn't bring himself to answer that, the guilt hit him. But still he kept working, beginning to assess her.

"What do you see?" Nancy asked, scared now not only for her baby, but also herself.  
"Pupils are four millimetres, skin is cool, pale, and diaphoretic." Reuben paused, looking deeply, apologetically into Nancy's eyes. "I'm going to start palpating now, okay?"  
"Okay."  
Rabbit kept up a steady stream of information to Nancy, until he reached her abdomen.

How could he not have realized that she was pregnant? Reuben thought, noting how tight her uniform shirt was.

Then Reuben touched her upper abdomen, and as soon as he did, he knew that they were out of time; internal bleeding had caused Nancy's stomach to become rigid and extremely tender to touch.

Nancy was bleeding out.

"...Nancy, hot belly," Reuben said, the gravity of the situation clear in his every word. He tried to reassure her as he called out for the rescue crew to get her out; there wasn't time to mess around, and Reuben knew that.

After covering Nancy to protect her, Rabbit kicked outwards against the tempered glass windscreen, causing it to give way.

* * *

It took Reuben less than a minute to get Nancy out, securely strap her to the backboard, and get her loaded into the awaiting medivac helicopter.

The flight to City Hospital only took eight minutes, but to everyone on board it felt like hours.

Nancy was in a terrible deal of pain, then Reuben noticed that this pain was not constant, and it was not caused by Nancy's internal injuries. She was in labour, and the baby was coming fast.

Marisa Benez, the pilot had heard Rabbit on the radio to emergency department attending, Dr Saviano, she had heard Rabbit report that Nancy was approximately five months pregnant, but that did nothing to lessen her shock when Reuben suddenly exclaimed, "She's crowning!"

Before anyone could say otherwise Nancy had unhooked her upper body from all restraint, and then there it was, there she was, a tiny limp baby laying between Nancy's legs.

* * *

_**TBC... If you ask nicely**_

_**A**__**s always suggestions and constructive critism are welcomed.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to drop me a review!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Trauma, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.**_

**_Enjoy and please review!_**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

Nancy was crying hysterically, as Reuben, who was also in tears softly told her, "It's a girl, Nance. It's a little girl."

Over the headsets Marisa and Dr Joe were desperately trying to get information, but later neither Reuben or Nancy would remember anyone else's presence.

Nancy and Reuben shared the briefest kiss, cut short as Nancy collapsed back against the gurney, unconscious.

"Oh damn it!" Reuben swore as he suddenly found himself torn between Nancy and the baby. "How far out are we, Marisa?!"

"We'll be there in two minutes, Dr Joe has a team waiting."

Two minutes was too long, and Rabbit knew it.

Reluctantly, Reuben moved away from the baby; he knew in his heart that this baby was just too young to live. Nancy had to be his first priority.

A broken rib had hit Nancy's left lung, causing it to collapse, she needed a needle thoracostomy.

"We're a minute out, Rabbit," Marisa told her distraught partner over the headset.

Reuben quickly placed an oxygen mask over Nancy's face, before inserting a large gauge cannula through the space between Nancy's ribs, a small hiss of air escaped as Reuben worked; she was stabilizing. Switching to a bag valve mask, Reuben continued to provide the additional oxygen that Nancy needed. He was all too aware of the baby, his baby needed help too.

"Alright, we're about to land, Rabbit. Just another couple of seconds."

* * *

Marisa wasn't kidding when she told Rabbit that there was a team of medical personnel waiting at the helipad.

Reuben handed the baby out to the neonatal team first, "Approximately twenty week preemie, delivered on route. I didn't have a chance to assess her," Reuben reported, watching as they placed his baby girl into an incubator before rushing her away. Reuben saw all too clearly the expression of hopelessness on the neonatologist's face.

"Come on, Rabbit. Talk to me," Dr Joe said, urging Reuben to brief him on Nancy's condition.

"..Oh, right. Thirty one year old female, postpartum, probable ruptured spleen, needle decompressed a tension pneumothorax, vitals are deteriorating, she needs... I couldn't bag them both."

"It's alright, we've got her," Joe assured Reuben, as Nancy was lifted out onto a waiting gurney.

* * *

After they'd taken Nancy and the baby into the hospital, Reuben felt the reality of the situation crash over him. He'd just delivered his own child, preterm in the helicopter. Nancy had just given birth to their baby, and it was far from certain that either of them would survive.

"Whoa, whoa. Take it easy, just sit down," Marisa had shut down the helicopter, and was at Rabbit's side, urging him to sit down on the edge of the door. Sitting down beside her partner, Marisa spoke, "You did everything you could. Seriously man, that was insane, but you got through."

Reuben tried to stand to leave, not that he knew where he would go.

"Dr Joe and Nancy's dad are with Nancy. I don't know, but maybe we should go down to the NICU, check on the baby?"

"...Yeah, that'd be good. She shouldn't be alone."

* * *

Reuben stood outside the NICU with Marisa, watching through the glass as an increasing number of machines and tubes were connected to the baby. Never in his life had Rabbit felt more helpless, never. The love of his life was in surgery and their premature baby was barely hanging on.

* * *

Glenn thought that he couldn't feel any worse about the accident, then after he'd been seen by the ER attending, Diana stayed back to talk to him.

"...Have you heard anything about Nance, is she okay Diana?"

"It's touch and go, Glenn. They took her straight to surgery; the baby's in the NICU."

"Baby?" Glenn queried, confused.

"Nancy was pregnant, Glenn. She delivered a twenty weeker on the flight in."

Now Glenn was certain that he could not feel any worse.

* * *

It was over an hour before the neonatologist came out to speak to Reuben; the older man shook Rabbit's hand in polite greeting before he spoke, "Mr Palchuck. I understand that you're the baby's father. Yes?"

"Um, yeah. That's what Nancy said."

"We are doing everything we can for your daughter. But we need to have realistic expectations, and sadly the reality is that less than six infants in the world born at this gestation have survived."

What are you doing for her? What are we looking at here?" Reuben asked shakily.

The physician sighed wearily, before telling Reuben, "We placed your daughter on a ventilator, which then caused bilateral pneumothorax, we placed chest tubes to reinflate her lungs. She is on dialysis, as her kidneys aren't functioning. The incubator is maintaining her body temperature. And she has been requiring continuous intravenous medications to stabilize her. I understand that this must be a very difficult time for you and your wife, but..."

"But you want me to let you pull the plug?" Reuben surmised, clenching his fists at his side. Angrily he pushed Marisa away when she tried to comfort him.

"Look, Nancy's still in surgery, this has been a crazy day. She didn't even tell him about this baby. Can you just keep her alive until my partner has had a chance to talk to Nancy?" Marisa asked the doctor quietly.

"We'll do what we can. But he needs to prepare himself," The doctor told Marisa.

"Can he go in to see her?"

"Okay, just for a minute."

* * *

Finally the last of the crash victims had been loaded into ambulances, and were on their way to the hospital.

All that was left was the clean up and the come down, or at least that's what Tyler and Boone thought.

They were fighting over whether they were going to go into the hospital to check on Nancy and Glenn, or go in search of the 51-50 patient they'd had in the rig when the call came in about the wreck.

Rabbit pulled his car up right alongside Tyler and Boone's rig, coming damn close to running over them in the process. He was out of his mind with stress and fear, and he could only think to take it out on his two colleagues that he saw as being responsible for the delay in getting Nancy to the hospital.

"Hey! Damn it, Rabbit, watch it!" Boone exclaimed as Rabbit approached them.

Rabbit swung out, feeling a satisfying crack as he punched Boone in the jaw. "You sons of bitches nearly killed her! The docs are talking to me about letting our baby girl die, she was barely twenty weeks... Nancy is still in surgery. What the hell were you thinking?"

Tyler and Boone instantly were overwhelmed by guilt, they hadn't taken the time to assess Nancy, and they certainly didn't know that she was pregnant. If they had, then maybe... Well who could know how differently this whole thing would have unfolded.

Tyler was doubled over, sick at the knowledge that his actions may have cost Nancy's unborn baby her life.

Cameron, nursing what he was pretty sure was a broken jaw tried to apologize, but his words meant nothing to Reuben.

* * *

_**TBC... **_

_**A**__**s always suggestions and constructive critism are welcomed.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to drop me a review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Trauma, or the characters thereof. This is just for fun.**_

**_Enjoy and please review!_**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

Reuben was still feeling enraged when he returned to the hospital, it seemed to be pouring out of him; the staff nearly refused to let him into the ICU, but once they gave in, and escorted him back to where Nancy was all the anger dissipated. He broke down, dropping to his knees at her bedside as tears began to roll unabated down his face.

"She's still quite groggy from the anaesthetic, but she has been awake briefly. Her surgeon will be down soon to speak with you," The nurse told Reuben gently. "She's pretty banged up, but all things considered she's doing very well."

* * *

Nancy awoke to the sound of Reuben still crying softly; she could feel his head resting against her arm. "Hey," Nancy murmured, feeling numb as though she was floating in a haze, morphine coursing through her system.

Reuben was instant standing over her, relief washing over him. "Hey, Nance. God don't you ever go scaring me like this again."

"...What, um, oh god," Nancy mumbled as she slowly started to come around. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"It's okay, it's alright. Don't even worry about it now," Reuben comforted her, even though the mental image of the baby being connected to all those tubes, barely the size of his hand just kept coming back.

Reuben didn't have a chance, or honestly the energy to tell Nancy that their baby was still alive. Dr Joe came into the curtained cubicle, closely followed by Dr Brenton, the neonatologist that Reuben had met earlier.

Joe smiled as he saw that Nancy was awake, he used the bed controls to raise the backrest as he greeted her, "Nancy, how're you feeling? You gave us one hell of a scare." Joe paused, "Your tenth left rib was fractured in four places, it punctured your lung and spleen. We had to crack your chest open, and you've got a chest tube that's going to have to stay in for at least a few days. We also had to perform a splenectomy. This is my colleague, Dr Brenton, he has been treating the baby."

Nancy tried to sit up, only to realize that there was no amount of morphine to cover the pain of moving quickly so soon after a thoracotomy and laparotomy.

"Whoa, take it easy, Nance," Reuben said, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder.

Dr Brenton stepped in, "Your daughter is in the NICU, we are doing everything that we can for her, but she is extremely premature, you need to have realistic expectations."

"Look, she's just had major surgery, shouldn't we let her rest?" Reuben interjected apprehensively; in truth he wanted to postpone this discussion for his own sake almost as much as Nancy's.

"I'm sorry, but your daughter's condition is deteriorating. She has developed a condition called necrotising enterocolitis, which means that a substantial section of her bowel is dying; if left untreated she will develop a severe infection that will most likely kill her. You both need to make decide whether to pursue aggressive treatment, or..."

Reuben moved towards the doctor, but Nancy grabbed hold of his sleeve. "I need to know, please just let him speak, Rabbit."

Reuben backed down, albeit reluctantly.

"As I explained to your partner earlier your baby is exhibiting numerous, severe complications due to her prematurity. Even if we were to use all of our capabilities there is less than a five percent chance that she will ever leave the hospital. It might be better for you both and your baby if-"

"Is she in pain?" Nancy interrupted softly.

"..." Dr Brenton was hesitant to answer, but Joe subtly nodded that it was alright, that he should be truthful. "Most likely, yes."

Nancy looked up to Reuben, "...I don't want her to suffer. ...I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I should have told you."

There was a long silence, before Reuben asked, "So what happens now? I mean how do we do this?"

"Once you have given consent, we will disconnect the baby from all of the equipment that is supporting her. Most parents choose to hold the baby until the end, which can take anywhere from minutes to a number of hours, that might be difficult in this case though-"

"I want to be with my baby."

Dr Joe was quick to offer a solution; Nancy wasn't stable enough to get out of bed with any kind of safety, but if they tried to deny her this, she would most likely end up hurting herself trying to get to the NICU. "I'll take responsibility, I can come with Reuben to the NICU, and we can bring the baby up here. At least that way they can be together."

The neonatologist wasn't thrilled by the idea, that was certain, but he soon conceded that it was the best option available.

* * *

After discontinuing all treatment, Dr Brenton wrapped the baby in a soft pink blanket; gently he handed the tiny infant to Rabbit, who took the baby in his cradled arms.

"Hi there, little one," Rueben whispered in a rare show of emotion; it still seemed surreal to him that this tiny being was his, his and Nancy's.

* * *

"We should give her a name," Reuben suggested as Nancy gently rocked the baby in her arms. Tears rolled down Nancy's face as she looked down at her too small baby girl.

"I was going to name her Felicity, after my mom."

Reuben stroked the baby's tiny locks of blonde hair. "Felicity... Felicity Carnahan, what do you reckon little one? You like that?"

"Palchuck, she should have your name, Rabbit."

"You sure? I mean, if you want..." Reuben replied uncertainly, he wasn't going to push Nancy, not about this.

Nancy glanced up at Reuben ever so briefly offering a smile, "Her name's Felicity, Felicity Grace Palchuck. For my mom, and yours."

* * *

Baby Felicity died two hours later, forever leaving an imprint on her parents' hearts.

* * *

_**The End**_

_**A**__**s always suggestions and constructive critism are welcomed.**_

_**Thanks for reading! Please take a moment to drop me a review!**_

_**I'm thinking about a sequel, so suggestions please:)**_


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